Former WBC junior lightweight title holder Oscar Valdez may not be a current champion, but he is favored by the boxing betting odds against current WBO junior lightweight champion Emanuel Navarrete on Saturday night in the arid Arizona desert. Valdez (31-1 with 23 knockouts) has only lost to Shakur Stevenson in his career, while Navarrete (37-1 with 31 knockouts) has only been defeated by a fighter that refused to attend the weigh-in.
Emanuel Navarrete and Oscar Valdez will meet on Saturday, August 12, 2023, at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. Navarrete will be defending his WBO junior lightweight belt against Valdez in a Top Rank promotion. The action will start at 6:45 p.m. ET with the main event expected to start at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
When: Saturday, August 12, 2023
Where: Desert Diamond Arena, Glendale, Arizona
Why: WBO Junior Lightweight Championship
Emanuel Navarrete vs Oscar Valdez Paul Betting Odds
Emanuel Navarrete +139
Oscar Valdez -175
Emanuel Navarrete vs Oscar Valdez Preview
Emanuel Navarrete has been a world champion for most of the last five years. He claimed his first title in December 2018 when he defeated Isaac Dogboe for the WBO junior featherweight title, and he successfully defended the strap five times before making the move to featherweight. There, Navarrete won a unanimous decision over Ruben Villa in a title fight to claim the WBO featherweight championship. However, his power didn’t transfer to the new division.
While Navarrete was dominant as a junior featherweight, winning all five of his title defenses by knockout, he only registered three knockouts in his five fights at featherweight. Villa and Joet Gonzalez both went the distance against Navarrete, and Villa won five rounds on two of the judges’ scorecards.
We saw Navarrete make another move up in weight last year. He was originally supposed to face Oscar Valdez early in 2023, but Valdez suffered an injury during training, so Navarrete instead took on Liam Wilson for the WBO junior lightweight title. Wilson proved to be the toughest test for Navarrete in over a decade as he sent the two-division champion to the canvas in the fourth round. However, Navarrete recovered and took over in the middle rounds before polishing Wilson off for good in the ninth round. The victory made Navarrete a three-division world champion.
Oscar Valdez won his first 30 fights before suffering a defeat. Valdez hasn’t had to make as big of a weight jump as Navarrete, and that could serve him well on Saturday in Arizona. He won his first major title back in July 2016 when he knocked out Matias Rueda in the second round to win the WBO featherweight title. Then, he defended the belt six times in the span of three years before moving up to junior lightweight.
His dominance continued at super featherweight as he knocked out Miguel Berchelt to earn the WBC super featherweight title. Valdez defended the title with a unanimous decision win over Robinson Conceicao, but then he lost a unanimous decision to Shakur Stevenson in a unification fight last April. Stevenson thoroughly outclassed Valdez winning by marks of 117-110, 118-109, and 118-109, so this is a big bounceback fight for the two-division champion.
Valdez is the favorite and will see some action, but Navarrete is my pick to win this bout. He has a six-inch reach edge, and that’s a major advantage at this weight.
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